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Inside the dressing room, the weight of the situation — that their playoff hopes are all but gone — hit the players with intensity.

Outside, pictures and videos surfaced of fans stomping on Leaf jerseys outside a local bar. Against that backdrop, we have one player each for the penthouse and doghouse:

Penthouse

Defenceman Morgan Rielly had one of his best games of the season and was, arguably, the best Leaf on the ice along with Joffrey Lupul.

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Rielly showed up on the scoreboard with a wonderful rush down the right side. He was tripped but swept the puck while sliding on his stomach across the ice to the slot, where Lupul tucked it home for a goal.

That was a wonderful effort. Rielly was all over the ice, making smart decisions and solid play making. He nearly had a goal early in the game.

Rielly had 18:41 in ice time, while fellow young gun Jake Gardiner led the team with 23:19. These two should be paired for the remainder of the season and allowed to run the show as much as possible.

Doghouse

Centre Nazem Kadri was on the ice for the second and third Detroit goals.

Coach Randy Carlyle, who’d limited Kadri’s ice time down to a bare minimum in the second after those goals, ditched him to fourth-line duties in the third.

Just not a good night for Kadri, and the Leafs needed more from him.

He wasn’t involved enough and wasn’t much of a threat when he had the ice time. He’s not the only one, but on Saturday night, the most desperate night of the season, the Leafs needed more.

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